I’m so close to finishing this series that I can almost taste it. Alright, let’s see what nonsense happens this week.
— Raiju is amused that Aoi managed to get the mermaid’s scale. This means that there’s only one item left to acquire for the ceremony, and the thought makes him laugh maniacally. No, seriously, that’s an evil laughter if I’ve ever heard one. C’mon, he even looks evil. He even mentions how things are unfolding exactly as they did 300 years ago… y’know, back when he betrayed Princess Iso. Why doesn’t Ranmaru find this suspicious? In fact, this entire scene reminds me of a certain ProZD video.
— Elsewhere, Aoi and Ginji are trying to come up with dishes that might impress the cursed ayakashi. Somehow, imitation crab snuck its way into the list of ingredients somehow. Why would anyone wanna eat that nonsense?
— All of a sudden, O-Ryo has decided to pay Orio-ya a visit. These names are too similar. Why is she here? Aoi hasn’t the faintest clue, but I bet Odanna is behind it.
— O-Ryo is very impressed with Ranmaru. She’s pretty easy, I guess. Easy to impress, I mean.
— That’s when Nene, Orio-ya’s hostess, shows up, and two women get into the pettiest of petty squabbles. “You’re an old snow woman!” “You’re a dumb, young rat!” Sigh, you would hardly know that a impending disaster is about to wreck the entire southern region. You’d think these characters would put their differences aside to pull on the same rope, but nah.
— Later that night, a bunch of horny frogs have shown up to stir up trouble. They claim that they’ll hand over the fourth and final item that Orio-ya needs for the ceremony, but only if they have a blisteringly good time. Apparently, this involves licking Nene. Yo, that’s bad touch.
— When the waitstaff accidentally trips and spills sushi all over one of the frogs’ heads, things are about to get ugly. Aoi even wants to march right into the room and stick it to the horny frogs, but that’s what O-Ryo shows up to save the day. Even though she’s been demoted from her hostess role at Tenjin-ya — remember, she literally tried to get Aoi killed — she’s still got her magic touch. To be more specific, she knows perfectly how to deal with drunk men, a skill which the sweet, adorable Nene apparently lacks. This only serves to make the Orio-ya hostess feel useless and inadequate.
— As a result, Aoi learns the next morning that Nene has turned into a cute, pink Pichu. The hostess can’t maintain her human form when she’s depressed, but hey, you know what this calls for? This calls for food! Yep, Aoi will fix Nene right up.
— After some rice balls and clam chowder (odd combination), the cute rat becomes a bigger rat. Great. As always, I prefer Shin Megami Tensei‘s take on these mythological creatures.
— Since Nene is not quite recovered, it’s time to stuff more food down her gullet by going out and hitting up the town. Food doesn’t cure depression, but it’ll get the rat to open up. And when Aoi listens to the young hostess, her depression will be magically cured!
— A nata de coco shop catches Aoi’s eye. If you’re not familiar with nata de coco, it’s kinda like jello. Instead of using gelatin, however, you allow coconut water to ferment. Personally, it tastes fine, but I would never crave it. Nevertheless, here we are.
— Also, this shop is oddly being run by Odanna of all people. It’s as if he knew that a nata de coco shop would attract Aoi, so he opened a place just to wait for her to drop by. That’s insane, but whatever.
— Anyways, after eating the nata de coco, Nene reveals that she used to admire O-Ryo, but she admired her so much that she became jealous. Um, okay. Basically, O-Ryo will always have the perfect personality for handling drunks. On the flip side, this just isn’t something that Nene will ever be great at. Could she be good at it? Shrug, maybe. But great like O-Ryo? Probably not. Still, everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. Nene is probably better than O-Ryo at a lot of things.
— After Aoi lends a sympathetic ear, Nene finally apologizes for bullying her episodes ago. This somehow means that the girl is no longer depressed so she turns back into her human form. Not only that, Aoi forgives Nene for bullying her. Eh. Look, if you’re only nice to people if they’re nice to you first, then maybe you’re just not a very nice person. This is my entire problem with almost everyone in this show. Odanna and Ginji have pretty much treated Aoi nicely from the get-go, but everyone else was a dick until she helped them out. She had to earn their trust. But what kind of society is that? Is your community really worth all that much if you’re only courteous to people who have done you favors? I don’t think Nene is a good person at all. The same goes for O-Ryo, Hideyoshi, so on and so forth.
— Right before Aoi leaves the shop, Odanna lets her buy coconut milk and coconut oil. He also flirts with her a bit right before she leaves, which catches Nene’s attention. Nene doesn’t know that the guy is Odanna, though. She thinks Odanna is just the fish peddler, so she warns Aoi that something bad might happen if news of this gets out. I would like to see that, actually.
— Aoi then asks Nene about Hideyoshi, but to the young hostess, the young master is just a childhood friend. Sad trombone noises…
— At some point, a bunch of people swarm Nene and give her free stuff. She’s pretty much loved by the community. Aoi admits that this is a quality that O-Ryo would never have. Uh-huh. I mean, I can see what the story is trying to get at here. O-Ryo is more adult-like. She’s more sexy. She’s a better fit for a certain clientele. On the other hand, Nene is sweet and adorable. She’s family friendly. But is she really? Is she? Like I said, Aoi can forgive the young hostess for bullying her, but I don’t. I don’t trust people like Nene (or even O-Ryo for that matter).
— Later that day, Nene has fallen asleep even though it’s not nighttime. She can’t be exhausted either since all she did was walk around the town with Aoi. Nevertheless, Hideyoshi has to come and carry the girl back to the inn.
— Aoi tries to tease the young master by asking him if he likes Nene. He readily admits that he does. Nevertheless, he won’t ever confess to the girl, because he knows that his childhood friend likes Ranmaru. Wow, I respect him even less. So what if she likes someone else? Unless they’re already in a relationship, who cares? If you confess, and she turns you down, then you confirm what you’ve already known. On the other hand, if you confess and she doesn’t turn you down, you gave her the choice to pursue a relationship with you.
— Most of all, I always dislike it when people try to act in other people’s best interest. Hideyoshi won’t confess his feelings, because he thinks he’s doing what’s best for Nene. She should be able to decide that.
— But anyways, this week’s episode has taught me more about Nene than I ever really wanted to know.
— And there are still no subs for the latest Sirius the Jaeger and High Score Girl episodes! What’s up with that!